Photo Credit: Dixie Sheridan. Director, playwright, actor and outcast surrealist Antonin Artaud is perhaps best known for the manifestos set forth in his book Theater and Its Double, which envisioned a new form of radical performance he dubbed “The Theater of Cruelty.” Artaud intended to shock audiences out of complacency by replacing the familiar comforts of naturalistic psycho-drama with a surreal, sensually graphic theatricality, one that traded escapism for confrontation and – Artaud theorized –......

Lucinda Williams Does Her Discography The welcome trend of artists playing their entire albums through live in concert has spread to the country world. Lucinda Williams was in town this week for five (relatively) intimate shows at Irving Plaza and Town Hall, each featuring one of her five albums. Lucinda didn't stop at just recreating her past work -- after a short intermission set by up and coming singer/songwriter Fionn Regan, she'd come back up......

Whichever stadium/arena/field/theater/concert hall had the worst name, that title has been passed along. We're not sure what it was, but it now belongs to the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden. Not only is the official name obscenely long, but its short form, WaMu Theater, is just plain silly sounding. The Washington Mutual Theater has a much nicer ring to it, no? Madison Square Garden and Washington Mutual announced that they inked a long......

Culturemart, the annual “hybrid” performance festival, is now in full swing at HERE. The festival gives HERE’s resident artists a chance to share the fruit of their year-long residencies. Although the shows are still “in progress” and rough around the edges, the work is typically more engaging than a lot of “finished” productions. Here’s a sampling of some projects yet to be performed: Conceived by Lenora Champagne, TRACES/fades is an “intergenerational movement theatre work” with......

The NBA Draft Lottery will be held tonight at 8 PM, just before tip off of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Orlando Magic have the best chance, at 25%, to win the overall top pick in this summer's draft due to their league worst 21 - 61 record. 1993 was the last time the Magic landed the top pick and they selected Chris Webber, who was later traded to the Golden State......

This Saturday, at The Theater at Madison Square Garden is the NFL Draft, where several tall and heavy former college players will be selected to join the ranks of the NFL. The Giants "earned" the 4th pick in this year's draft with a 4-12 record, netting them their highest pick since 1984 when they selected Carl Banks. The Jets, who had a 6-10 record, have the 12th pick. Gothamist loves waking up on a lazy......